Featured Book for September: LARCENY AND LACE by Annette Blair

[becke_davis]

Larceny and Lace (Vintage Magic Series #2) This is going to be another fun month at the Mystery Book Club! I first discovered Annette Blair when I read her "Witch" books. She has two series of contemporary paranormals, the Triple Witch trilogy and the Accidental Witch trilogy. She also writes historicals, and she has a new series, Works Like Magick, coming out from Penguin. Annette also contributed to the HOT TICKET anthology which comes out this month.

The book we are featuring is LARCENY AND LACE, the second in this prolific author's Vintage Magic series. I love mysteries, and if you through in some magic and a romantic sub-plot I'm a very happy camper. I loved the first book in the series, A VEILED DECEPTION, and now I'm completely hooked.

You can check out Annette's website to see a complete list of her books: http://www.annetteblair.com/booklist.htm

You can read an excerpt of A VEILED DECEPTION here: http://www.annetteblair.com/excerpt_a_veiled_deception.htm

And you'll find an excerpt of our featured book, LARCENY AND LACE, here: http://www.annetteblair.com/excerpt_larceny_and_lace.htm

I do recommend reading these books in order, because you'll get to know the characters better that way.

You can follow Annette at Romance in the Backseat: http://romanceinthebackseat.ning.com/profile/AnnetteBlair?xg_source=activity

On MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/annetteblair

On Twitter: http://twitter.com/annetteblair

On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/annette.blair.author?ref=ts

A Veiled Deception (Vintage Magic Series #1)

[becke_davis]

I forgot to mention you can join Annette's Facebook fan club here, too: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=18899619133

[becke_davis]

Here are links to some interviews and reviews: 

http://www.examiner.com/x-2533-Romance-Novel-Examiner~y2009m8d1-Romance-author-QA--bestselling-autho...

http://www.rwanational.org/cs/speakers_bureau/speaker_detail?id=120

http://berkleyjoveauthors.com/author130

http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=9486

http://penelopesromancereviews.blogspot.com/2009/06/review-of-larceny-and-lace-by-annette.html

[becke_davis]

I could go on and on with the links,. but I can add more later if Annette knows of any good ones I've missed.

Annette -- I am so pleased to welcome you to the Mystery Book Club! I loved your witch books, and I am completely hooked on this new series, too. I'm amazed at your output -- how do you keep track of all the books you write, especially since you seem to have several coming out at once?

[Annette_Blair]

Hi Becke, thank you for inviting me to join you and Hank this month. I actually responded to you in the wrong place originally and couldn't find your email addy so I'm winging it here. I have some good news. The numbers are in, and LARCENY AND LACE premiered at #6 on the Barnes and Noble mass market mystery list. And at #50 on the mass market list for all genres, very exciting. On Bookscan it premiered at #15 then went to #24. It held on both mystery lists for a third week. I'm so excited. Please feel free to ask questions, anyone. I'll be happy to answer them. Just bear with me because for today, we're setting up a new computer and moving this to the has-been corner for a while, so I might be offline for a couple of hours. Meanwhile, welcome all.

[becke_davis]

Welcome, Annette! That's fabulous news about your numbers. I've read both books in this series, and I think it's going to get more and more popular as the series goes on. The heroine is engaging, and I love the whole premise. You've got an instant hook for anyone who is interested in vintage clothing -- my mom wants to read my copies, but I'm going to have to get her own copies. I'm keeping mine!

The only other book I remember reading on this topic was an old one by Barbara Michaels called SHATTERED SILK. I'm not sure if it's still in print, but it might make an interesting companion read to Annette's Vintage Magic series.

Since it's still technically August today, we've got both our August and September featured authors visiting -- kind of a virtual party! So take your time with your computer issues, don't worry about being here "live."

If it's easier for you to check in on certain days, we can do that, too -- whatever works best for you. We're just glad you could join us!

[Annette_Blair]

The computer issues have been a pain and not fixed as quickly as I'd hoped, but I'm on my husband's office computer right now which I can get away with once in a while.  I should be able to check in much more frequently tomorrow.

I did want to tell you that the third in the series DEATH BY DIAMONDS is due out either in February or April of 2010.  And I'm in the middle of doing copyedits for NAKED DRAGON, my first WORKS LIKE MAGICK NOVEL, about Bastian Dragonelli, a former Roman Warrior and a former Dragon, which will be out in January of 2010.

[becke_davis]

Annette - I am amazed at the number of series you have going. How many books a year do you write? How many have you had pubished, altogether? I tried to count them but I lost track.

Thanks so much for making the effort to come here tonight, even with the computer issues. If we don't see you for a bit, we'll know why!

[Annette_Blair]

Becke, I actually write between three and four books a year.  Officially, I've finished the Triplet Witch Trilogy.  However, in the new series, the WORKS LIKE MAGICK NOVELS, where magical supernatural ancients come through the veil into Salem from parrallel planes, my continuing character is a witch. Her name is Vivica Quinlan.  With a legacy from an ancestor witch who escaped the burning times, she greets, acclimates, and legalizes the ancients.  She owns Works Like Magick, an employment agency, through which she finds employment for the supernaturals.  This new series takes place in Salem today.  Therefore, don't be surprised to meet Melody Seabright from THE KITCHEN WITCH in NAKED DRAGON.  I plan for readers to catch up with Kira Fitzgerald, from MY FAVORITE WITCH, in BEDEVILED ANGEL, second in the WORKS  LIKE MAGICK series, due out in August 2010.  And the step-daughter of one of the triplets, Harmony & Kings's daughter Reggie, with the little Einstein son, Jake, will be the heroine in the third book about a time traveling pirate who comes back to Paxton Island for the treasure he buried there hundreds of years before.  The point is: we haven't seen the last of the triplets or the accidental witches, by any means.  And we'll get to meet their children, the ones we know about the the ones we don't. Pepper, from NEVER BEEN WITCHED, the third triplet, is also due a story of her own, and so eventually will Jake have his story. 

I hope this pleases the readers who have been upset that the witch books ended, because, really, they didn't.

[becke_davis]

That is impressive -- when do you sleep? You must be incredibly organized. Are you a pantser or a plotter? Or -- dare I ask -- is your process a little bit magical?

The Kitchen Witch was the first book of yours I read, and I loved it. I should stress that it isn't a mystery, but it's still a really fun read.

The Kitchen Witch

Since then I've always bought your new releases, but I haven't gotten to them all yet -- my problem is, once I find an author I like, I tend to buy all their books. And then I can't keep up, no matter how fast I read. But I'm definitely going to be reading your new series. Can we look forward to more mysteries any time soon? (As if you don't have enough on your plate already!)

[Annette_Blair]

Thanks for asking Becke.  Before my mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime, I was a diehard plotter.  I gave workshops on plotting called Storymapping Workshops.  Then I began writing mysteries wherein I became the sleuth, since I was writing them in first person.  I thought, "I can't plot this, or I'll write it as if I know what's going to happen."  It seemed to me, that as the sleuth, I should keep digging and eventually be as surprised as everyone else at who done it and how or why...  So other than knowing the crime and perhaps where Maddie's business is going to take her next, I'm a pantser for the mysteries.  This generally adds a layer of angst to my writing but I'm learning to make peace with that.

I thought then that I would continue to plot my single titles for Berkley Sensations, but it's not working that way.  I've started running with an idea and  letting it take me where it will.  I'm always sure of the characters, after all they're key, and what their problems will be, the worst thing that can happen to them, but other than that, I wrote NAKED DRAGON by the  seat of my pants also.  Oddly, I got a note back from my editor after she read it.   She said, "OMG, how much do I love Bastian!!!"  Later, she told me that he was her favorite of all my heroes.  Maybe there's something to being a pantser.  For me, the jury's still out, but I'm five chapters into BEDEVILED ANGEL and I haven't plotted any of it...yet. 

Maybe I should be afraid? 

[Annette_Blair]

ps: I'm not organized, just obsessed.  I write between twelve and seventeen hours a day, usually seven days a week, unless family, appointments, or conferences take me away, and even then, I take my netbook with me.

[becke_davis]

LOL - trust your muse! It doesn't seem to have led you wrong yet.

"Then I began writing mysteries wherein I became the sleuth, since I was writing them in first person.  I thought, "I can't plot this, or I'll write it as if I know what's going to happen."  

That's brilliant -- I'd never thought of it that way!

I mentioned that I loved the opening line to Hank's featured book. I loved your opening, too, but this opening quote hooked me before I even started the story: "I find that it is vital to have at least one handbag for each of the ten types of social occasion: Very Formal, Not So Formal, Just a Teensy Bit Formal, Informal but Not That Informal, Every Day, Every Other Day, Day Travel, Night Travel, Theater, and Fling." -- Miss Piggy

It didn't occur to me when I scheduled you and Hank together that your books would have similarities. LARCENY AND LACE is in a series with a recurring theme of vintage clothing. AIR TIME is a mystery centered around fashion in a different sense: the big business of fake handbags. Both of your books feature women with interesting jobs. And both books have cats with unusual names: Chakra in your book (I'm assuming, even though Chakra has the wrong coloring, that there's some Burmese in the mix), and Botox in AIR TIME. A serendipitous coincidence!

[Annette_Blair]

I have to admit that one of the things I love about the mysteries is that I was asked to put a quote before each chapter by a fashion guru or a fashion designer.  Since a handbag is important to the plot of LARCENY AND LACE, I'm particularly tickled with the quote I found for chapter one:

"I find that it is vital to have at least one handbag for each of the ten types of social occasion:
Very Formal, Not So Formal, Just a Teensy Bit Formal, Informal But Not That Informal, Every Day,
Every Other Day, Day Travel, Night Travel, Theater, and Fling." - Miss Piggy

You may not know it, but Miss Piggy is quite the fashion expert. 

[becke_davis]

Miss Piggy's word is law: 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or m...

The Oscar – is that what they call it? – means nothing to me. After all, one does not labor to shape one's craft just for some tacky statuette that looks like a hood ornament from an old DeSoto.

When you are in love with someone you want to be near him all the time, except when you are out buying things and charging them to him.

Never let your frog outdress you.

Whenever possible, avoid airlines which have anyone’s first name in their titles, like Bob’s International Airline of Air Fred.

[Annette_Blair]

Becke, looks like we were writing the same Miss Piggy quote at approximately the same time.  LOL. 

Since I haven't picked up Air Time  yet, I didn't realize there were so many similarities between my book and Hank's. 

Oh, cool, I love the name of Hank's cat, Botox.  LOL. 

Chakra was named that because she calms Maddie's solar plexus chakra.  So if Mad's nervous, you'll see her cuddle Chakra to her.  And yes, the kitten was yellow in the first book, but when she made the cover she looked more cream with light stripes.  I made sure to mention in LARCENY AND LACE that she was growing out of her kittenish yellow and into some surprising stripes.  Not sure of the Burmese part.  I thought of her more as a mix breed.  It's always safer to go that way.  One of my great readers did a family tree for the witches' cats.   

[becke_davis]

I thought of Burmese because of Chakra's banshee yowl. I used to babysit for some people who had a Burmese. When that cat went into heat, they used to pay me extra because her horrific howls could wake the dead.

[phenomshel]

I am so looking forward to the new series, Annette!  I've read both the  Vintage Magic mysteries and absolutely adore them.  I'm on your Facebook too, so I can keep up.  - Shel

[Annette_Blair]

Becke, love the Miss Piggy quotes you put up.  I used "Never let your frog outdress you," in DEATH BY DIAMONDS.